Do you have USB in your computer? That's an Apple first in a consumer computer. Do you like your DVD drive, instead of Floppy drive? That's lead the way by Apple too. By the way, you do know that PC World concluded that "The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac."

Okay to have a bias, but let's be real. Neither format is winning. Transformers was a great release numbers wise. What people need to do is demand quality dual format players like the Samsung Duo (will it ever be released?) End the stupid war. I honestly don't care who wins (I own HD-DVD and love it) just hurry up so the price becomes reasonable. Each side is spending millions trying to back theirs. No surprise. Quit trying to add drama to what is basically the selfishness of the companies at the pain of the consumer.

It appears that you fail to realize that the war, if left to it's on devices, would be over. Aside from the game console issue mentioned above, Blu-Ray, by far outsells HD-DVD. So really, what MS seems to be doing it pushing back the inevitable... that is that HD-DVD won't make it with consumers.

This would be like China loosing a war, but continuing to send soldiers to the front line to their death, only because they have so many of them.

Had MS not started their idiotic policy of paying studios to NOT release in Blu-Ray, by the end of the holiday season, we wouldn't even have this conversation.

So let MS spend all the money they want. LIke most things MS tries these days, sooner or later, it seems to backfire.

(and for the VHS-Betamax folks out there, let me remind you that Sony parlayed the Beta format into the defacto broadcast standard, making billions and billions of dollars on it)

Yea, he's only a movie director. I'm sure he knows absolutely NOTHING about blu ray, HD, or anything else about the movie business except for directing. He's just like any other person out there--like you and me--who know nothing about Hollywood. Except we know his name.

It is possible that Microsoft has chosen to back HD-DVD as a way to compete with the PS3 with their own X-Box. If Blu-Ray becomes the dominant format, the PS3, which plays Blu-Ray discs, becomes that much more attractive compared to the X-Box. The PS3 is a good deal for a Blu-Ray player.

I cannot believe that Microsoft would seriously believe that they could cause digital downloads to become the dominant format by confusing the market.

It appears that you fail to realize that the war, if left to it's on devices, would be over. Aside from the game console issue mentioned above, Blu-Ray, by far outsells HD-DVD. So really, what MS seems to be doing it pushing back the inevitable... that is that HD-DVD won't make it with consumers.

Really? So you're saying that the consortium that backs HD-DVD wouldn't be pushing it, it's just all Microsoft that's trying to keep it going?

What's really amazing is how easy it is for all you conspiracy theorists to believe this tripe. There's no way MS is trying to fund HD-DVD just to make the XBox more attractive (since, the last time I checked, the main reason anyone buys those things is to play games, not to watch High-Def movies). And I don't know who actually thinks MS has a chance in h*** to somehow take over the online video market. That is funny.

Do you have USB in your computer? That's an Apple first in a consumer computer. Do you like your DVD drive, instead of Floppy drive? That's lead the way by Apple too. By the way, you do know that PC World concluded that "The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac."

Yes, only the most defensive takes a comment actually praising apple for not taking sides, and sees it as a deride that needs defense.

But, yes, I have USB. And, maybe you didn't realize it, but PCs came with USB before Apple's computer did. Apple's use helped propel it a bit, but the PC was already going in that direction.

But did you also notice how long it took Apple to succumb to adding USB 2.0 to its computer systems (mostly in fear of making firewire even less relevant then it was), long after the PC world switched over?

And I have idea what the h*** the PC World article has to do with anything (esp. since if they said anything that wasn't praiseworthy of Apple, you'd slap them down as Windows-whores who can't be trusted).

Oh, BTW, both formats are going to fail, regardless of MS's support of one or the other. The movie studios are going to end up killing them once they realize that the draconian DRM they insist on isn't ever going to be foolproof.

And you know they're not going to want to release content that you can just make a copy of and give to your friend. That costs the MPAA some 6 gazillion dollars a month, and why they need to cut back on royalties and such.

Do you like your DVD drive, instead of Floppy drive? That's lead the way by Apple too.

Oh, actually Apple first replaced the floppy drive with......um...nothing. In fact, one of the big commotions on the imac sans floppy was the complete lack of any type of removable media storage.

This was in part because Apple was just so far behind the times in the CD-R/CD-RW adoption.

I don't agree with most of your comments but today they all made sense. Really light on sarcasm too. Maybe people are just used to disagreeing with you as to the responses you are getting today.

If you dropped coin on an hd monitor and you're interested in watching hd movies on it, you'll probably go purple. There is enough competition to ensure that prices will continue to drop on players and movies even as the format war continues. So people will buy 2 players or 1 combo player and they'll enjoy their movies, which is the whole point, at the end of the day.

There is an important consideration, though, regarding "going purple" (buying both hd formats). Think of an hd player as if it were a dSLR and think of the movies as if they are lenses. Over time, the real expenditure is not on the camera body (hd player), but on the lenses (the movies). Of course, the player will eventually die and you'll want to replace it with a new one. When it comes to dSLRs, Canon and Nikon are competitors with huge installed user bases. You'll probably buy the same camera body because you want to be able to use the thousands of dollars in glass you've accumulated. But if your hd-dvd player breaks and that format fails (as it looks like it eventually will), you may find yourself stuck with movies that you can't find a player for. And replacing them, like moving from Canon lenses to Nikon lenses, won't be cheap.

I'm purple, but I'm also spending mostly on Blu-Ray. For the record, both formats produce stellar picture and sound quality.

HD-DVD will never die, and do you know why?

p***!

Sony has already forbidden Adult Films to be put on Blu-ray discs.

So if you think Blu-ray will really take over the market at some point, you are 100% incorrect.

Sony needs to pull the proprietary stick out of their a** and refu*kinglax. That's the only way they'll take over.

If they don't allow p*** on Blu-ray and make it affordable, they will be in the same postion they found themselves in during the "betamax revolution".

Who knows maybe there is a money model for Digital Distribution and VOD ??? But are we willing to give MicroSoft the credit for inventing it? I thought that it was our VicePresident, the same one who invented the internet. I could have sworn he was a Mac User, so then it must be QuickTime ...

That info is outdated, Sony also loves p***. Just google it.

Holy shitake mushrooms.

Pete, you just made my day.

No, no, f*ck the computer monitor, we're going big today.

Now I have an excuse to watch p*** in my living room. Hope the roommates don't mind. ;-)